1199 Nurses Fly to Haiti as Front-Line Caregivers

Two 1199SEIU RNs flew to Haiti on February 8 in response to a call from the union and the SEIU Nurse Alliance for volunteers to help the victims of the earthquake that devastated the capital city of Port-au-Prince four weeks ago.

Both nurses were born in Haiti and strongly felt the urge to leave at once after the earthquake struck but were hindered by the chaos that roiled the city, limiting access and communications.

“The parents of my husband and cousins live there. I learned from a phone call that the wife of one of my nephews has died,” Marie Fontaine, an RN from Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York said.

Claudia Warrington, an RN with Mt. Sinai Queens, who emigrated from Haiti to the United States in 1986, accompanied Fontaine.

“An aunt and cousins who live in the hardest hit areas are still unaccounted for,” Claudia said. The volunteers were instructed to carry sleeping bags, tents, bug sprays, mosquito nets, flashlights and food that can last for two to three days.

Leaving from New York City’s Kennedy airport, they flew to Santo Domingo, capital of Haiti’s neighbor, the Dominican Republic. From there they will be transported to Haiti by International Medical Corps, a global, non-profit organization specializing in disaster relief to poor countries by providing health care programs. SEIU has partnered with IMC and Partners in Health based in Boston to mobilize Haiti earthquake assistance.

“I was told I may be camping out outside the yard of the Plaza Hotel, right across the shattered Presidential Palace,” said Marie who last visited Haiti in 1992.

IMC is paying for the transportation costs for the two RNs but will receive no other compensation. Upon release from their employers, they are volunteering their own time in Haiti. So far some 58 1199SEIU members from New York, Maryland and Massachusetts have signed up with IMC and PIH. The majority are from New York.

Claudia’s husband was able to leave February 5 to Haiti to accompany two doctors. Prime candidates for deployment are Creole-speaking healthcare workers with significant disaster relief experience, as well as medical or nursing critical care expertise who can volunteer for a minimum of two weeks.

On January 25, 1199SEIU donated a million dollars to UNICEF’s Haiti relief program